By Samantha Chapnick
Take a New York City holiday in August to see exactly how cyclist personable the city & New York hotels, streets, & shops have become. Janette Sadik-Khan (the city’s transportation commissioner) is determined to give local & visiting bikers a new, safer way to enjoy the best parts of our city from two non-polluting, non-garage-needing wheels.
Although there have been many steps taken in the past few years to make the city more bike personable, this August offers the best chances to live the cycling life in New York City. Here are some things to put on your list. Read the rest of this entry »
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By Samantha Chapnick
Staying at a New York hotel tailored to your taste makes your journey far easier and more enjoyable. It offers the chance to meet like-minded visitors and locals, and find insider information not available at other spots. Here are my favorites:
Bibliophile
Library Hotel
• Adjacent to the main branch of the New York Public Library (the one with those gorgeous lions Patience & Fortitude outside) and Bryant Park (where many literary events take place all summer).
• Rooms organized by the Dewey decimal system by interest.
• Each room has 25-50 books relevant to that room’s theme.
Museum Maven
Hotel Wales
• You can’t get any closer to Museum Mile than the Hotel Wales. Read the rest of this entry »
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Billy Pittenger is one of TravelPod’s newest Local Experts. He volunteered to help out in the New York forum, but his help on South America has also been priceless. Here’s what Billy has to say about New York:
Why did you become a Local Expert?
I saw that there were two experts for New York City, but they didn’t really talk about the rest of the state. All my knowledge of New York is about the rest of the state, not the city, so I figured I should share it.
What’s are the best and worst things about living in New York?
Best 2 things – New York has something for everyone, no matter what you want, you can find it somewhere in the state. And secondly, NYC is the best hub in the US for direct flights to pretty much every corner of the world.
Worst thing – Winters are horrible if you’re having to deal with it day in and day out, shoveling snow, going to work, etc.
What are the top five or 10 things for travelers to do in New York outside of NYC?
Wine tours of the finger lakes
Skiing in the Adirondacks
Horse-racing at Saratoga Raceway
Stay at the Sagamore in Lake George
Catch a race at Watkins Glen
Go bob-sledding at the Olympic Park in Lake Placid
Drive down a 2-lane road through the Adirondack Mountains in the fall as the leaves are changing
Billy “rockin’ the Fiat in Brazil”What are some of your best and worst travel experiences?
Best – Landing on an isolated lake in the outer reaches of Alaska in an amphibious plane, then rafting down a river for 6 days with no cell phones, email, or other daily distractions. Another would be trying to drive a souped-up V8 Pontiac Trans-Am down the highway during a blizzard in New York…and not dying.
Worst – (Knocks on wood) I haven’t had too many bad travel experiences. But getting a flat tire on the moving trailer during the drive from Alabama to New York sucked pretty hard.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
Managing to graduate with an B.S. in Engineering from RIT while simultaneously holding down 5 part-time jobs.
That and completely surprising my wife when I proposed. I answered the door on one knee when she came back to her apartment (in Rochester, NY) from work…and she thought I was in Michigan on a co-op. I still smile when I think about the look of confusion on her face before she figured out what was going on.
Where are you planning on traveling in the future?
Currently in Brazil. But I’m trying to be able to join the Traveler’s Century Club before I’m 30 (less than 4 years to go). So lots of traveling in the future…
May 3 – traveling Sao Paulo to France, then England, back to home in New York
May 14 – road trip to Chicago, then Detroit and Toronto
May 20 – Alabama.
May 31 – 2-week trip to London, Cornwall, Guernsey, Jersey, Wales, Isle of Man, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland.
July – Then will see what deals we can find on Caribbean cruises.
Sept – Most likely to Russia for a job for a few weeks.
October – Back to Brazil, hopefully can take vacation before work this time.
2010 – Travel to every country in Europe
What do you do with most of your time?
Working a lot…and when not working, traveling or planning travel. Planning to get a motorcycle this summer to keep me occupied if there aren’t any new jobs to travel to.
What’s a typical day like for you?
Working days? Wake up early…~5-5:30am, work for 10 to 16 hours, dinner, watch a TV show, plan a little more of the next trip, then sleep.
Non-working days? There is no such thing as typical!!
What’s your favourite part of the TravelPod forum?
Being able to find insider info to pretty much any part of the world. It’s much better to hear about a place from those who have been there.
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By Samantha Chapnick
Spring is always the ideal time for a New York vacation. But this year’s economy is making it an even better destination. Restaurants, theaters, and even stores, are falling over themselves to make good deals, and to make you happy. Hotels are as well — especially on weekends!
New York hotels are offering deals that I haven’t seen in 10 years or more. Very upscale boutique hotels like the Muse are less than 0 a night, trusty chains such as Doubletree are ringing in at 9 night, and for those willing to do bare bones and share a bathroom, you can be steps from Central Park and Lincoln Center at the Hotel Alexander for less than 0/night.
Below is a list of my favorite New York hotel deals for spring:
LUXURY PACKAGES
Hotel Plaza Athenee
Want to feel like a true New Yorker but still be close to all the attractions? The Hotel Plaza Athenee is an upscale, intimate New York hotel reminiscent of Paris‘ finest 16 Arrondissement properties. It’s on a quiet tree-lined street in the hush-hush elegant Upper East Side, less than two blocks from Central Park (and the Zoo), two subway stops from Times Square, and a nice walk to Museum Mile. At 5, this is the city’s luxury steal of the century. Read the rest of this entry »
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If you’re thinking about planning your summer vacation, here’s good news: You’ll find cheaper hotel rates this year compared to 2008 in some of the most popular summer vacation destinations.
Orbitz compared rates for hotel rooms booked on its site for stays from June 1 through August 31, 2009, to rates during the same period in 2008 and found savings of as much as 40% for 2009 summer vacations.
Mexico vacations can be cheaper — with Cancun hotels running 19% less this year than in 2008 and Riviera Maya hotels about 9% cheaper. Las Vegas hotels are nearly 42% cheaper this summer, and Chicago hotels are about 24% cheaper. Even a Hawaii vacation can cost less, with average daily rates for Oahu hotels about 23% less than last year.
Check out the full list: Read the rest of this entry »
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